Can a Born Killer become a Born Protector?
by Death by manga
Summary: Grimmjow is captured after Ichigo lost his powers. He is now forced to assume Ichigo's duties as a Substitute Soul Reaper in Karakura Town. This is a story about the 17 months between arcs in the plot. Some minor NalxNnio, UryuxNemu, RukixIchi, UlqxOri
1. New Beginning

This is volume one of the Hollow Chronicles

Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in any of its forms, but if I did, Kenpachi and Unohara would take "Hospital Love" to a whole new level.**

In the event that you are displeased with my level of skill, please, don't hesitate to send a Review. I will use the best of my skills to reply to each one, but in the event that things are getting repetitive, then I will make an area in my Authors note to comment on it.

Please note that this is my first official FanFiction, so please go easy on me.

I give thanks to my first friend on this site, Pehpig, who helped me get things ready.

~Grimmjow~

"**Grimmjow Jaegerjaques. You are being tried for the murder of innocent humans and souls, assisting in the Invasion held by Sosuke Aizen, and for the destruction caused by your frequent rampage in Karakura Town. How do you plead?**"

Grimmjow sagged down, his head still throbbing from his visit to the interrogation room. He didn't even have the strength to plead guilty. They had made sure of that, beating him over and over until he couldn't tell up from down. They would poison him until his blood turned to jelly and heal him up, doing this over and over again. Those damn 12th division bastards certainly had their fun with him. In fact, that guy with the weird make-up reminded him of Szayel. And that wasn't a good thing.

"**Normally we wouldn't even be holding such a trial, but you seem to be on good terms with Ichigo Kurosaki and Orihime Inoue. To quote, 'Grimmjow is rude and ill-tempered, but possesses honor, integrity, and duty.'**"

Perfect. Broken in body and spirit, Grimmjow has been reduced to relying on testaments made by his worst enemy. Normally he would have struck each of these fools down with one swing of his zanpakuto.

But as of now, his hands were bound, and he couldn't even draw the strength necessary to lift his arms.

He sat there, on his knees, his arms chained behind him. He had been beaten so badly by his guards that he couldn't understand where these voices were coming from. They were loud, and sounded as if they were coming from all directions.

* * *

><p>He recalled to where he had been discovered in the ruins of Las Noches.<p>

Kurosaki had left, along with that woman and that beast of a Soul Reaper. He had been discarded like a petty rag doll and left for dead. He could feel his spirit particles leaving from his wounds, the vast amounts of energy he had worked so hard to obtain was gone. He was at the strength of one of his lower Fraccion, worthless. He wouldn't have minded being struck down by Tosen or Kurosaki, but he wasn't even given that privilege. Nope, he had been left to die a slow and meaningless death.

Lying there, his pride had been crushed and his enemy had saved his life from his comrade. He could feel the blood pouring out of his open wounds. The sand was turning into mud due to all the blood he was emitting. Small, parasitic worms made from single-cellular spirit particles were making their way through his body. The pain was excruciating, and wasn't letting up in the least.

The lit, dark sky shown overhead. With Aizen gone, his Artificial Sun was loosing tremendously needed power, Grimmjow worried that it may collapse, forming a supernova of reishi. And that could destroy everyone here, even Aizen. As he contemplated his death, a Shadow loomed over him. The reiatsu didn't feel familiar, so he knew he wasn't safe. Hell, he knew he wasn't safe even if it was one someone familiar.

"Don't bother struggling. We have your spiritual pressure locked and your zanpakuto has been confiscated."

Those were the last words he could remember from that desert.

The shinigami had cuffed him and performed basic medical aid, even if it was only enough to keep him alive until they got to the Soul Society. But not nearly enough to give him the energy to fight back when they kept him tied down with restraining Kidos, or Bakudo as they call it.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

When he came to the next time, he was being interrogated back in the Soul Society.

It was simple enough. Was he loyal to Aizen, or was he being manipulated? Blah, Blah, Blah. He answered just like they wanted. One time he even got hit because he didn't phrase his answer in the form of a question. He remembered that it was the guy with weird face paint asking him then. The ass didn't know when to quit.

He spent his days catching mice in his jail cell. There were so many, he was sure that they were intentionally releasing them just to toy with him. Whatever. It stopped his Boredom and they were tasty snacks. One time he caught a big, sewer rat. It was the size of Yammy's dog, which wasn't good. It was filling, but he wondered if he had gotten infected with the unwashed blood and meat he had obtained from the rat. There was something bizarre about those rats. The reminded him of his human life, which was one thing he never wanted.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

"**Grimmjow? GRIMMJOW JAEGERJAQUES!**"

He jumped to attention. His neck almost snapped, swinging his head up so fast. It already started to hurt again. He wasn't nearly healthy enough to stay awake this whole time.

"**You have been given the choice between Death or Parole. Your Execution will be painless and swift, we can assure you. Or…**" They paused checking to see if he was paying attention. "**You can choose to work as a Deputy Soul Reaper.**"

The notion sent fury down his spine. They we toying with him. They wanted to have him work as their little hollow hunter? "What wrong with your previous deputy shinigami?" The words hurt as they came out, but he wanted to know what had happened.

"**It is of no concern on your part, we simply need a new one.**" So Kurosaki was out of commission, huh? That was the only bit of good news he had received since the end of their match.

They droned on and on until Grimmjow realized that they were serious. They actually wanted him to go around, killing his own kind. They were nuts. Did they honestly believe that he would willingly consent to this? He figured that they were expecting him to decline so that they would have a valid excuse to off him right then and there.

"**You will be stationed down in Karakura Town, where we should be able to keep an eye on you. Of course, there will be some strict rules you will need to consent to."**

**1. You are not allowed to injure any human or Plus that you will come across.**

**2. You will be assigned to a local denizen of Karakura Town with a significant amount of spiritual pressure.**

**3. You are forbidden, under any circumstances, to intentionally allow a Hollow or Arrancar to kill off a Human or Plus on your watch.**

"**In the event that any of these rules are broken, then your parole will be permanently revoked, and your execution will be performed on the spot.**"

Grimmjow scoffed at the idea, but he couldn't say no. Death was one thing. He had already experienced it before. But to die now, his spirit wouldn't even exist. He would cease to even think.

"**Do we take this as your rejection?**"

"No. I'll take the job."

~Nel~

The three Arrancars looked over the desert and watched the situation occur. The first was a big, hulk of an Arrancar, with a Tiki mask covering his face. His body was covered in a full body suit covered with polka dots along the back. His name was Dondochakka.

The second Arrancar would have been considered Lanky, if it weren't for his short stature. He wore an insect-shaped mask and a loincloth. He carried plenty of pearly white armor, ranging from a chest plate, to arm and leg coverings. His name was Pesche.

The third, their leader, was something else entirely. She was a female Arrancar, appearing around 16-17 and had glossy green locks that settled upon her pronounced bosom. On her head, sat a skull, the shape of a ram, though it was missing its bottom jaw, and its top jaw that broken into two sides. Her name was Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, Nel for short.

What they saw was pure chaos. After the Espadas had been killed off and the three Commanders had been executed (or had simply abandoned them), order had been lost. Arrancars of of all shapes and sizes had began fighting for Aizen's throne. That's what happens when you get a complete annihilation of a dictatorship. With no successor clearly shown, it was evident that a Civil War would erupt.

The only obvious candidate for the thrown would be Yammy, as he was the only Espada she knew to have survived. The thing was, Yammy had vanished after the war, and no one could find him.

Nel could have went for the throne if she wanted to, but she wasn't one for holding power. She also was missing a large portion of her power. Though not so much that she would have been forced to stay in her child-form. After her battle with Nnoitora, a lot of her memories had resurfaced, and along with them came her powers.

She still wasn't strong enough to reclaim her previous position as the 3rd Espada though. She may never, not with the growing expectations for the strength of one.

Pesche, the Arrancar with the Insect mask was the first to speak up after they witnessed the chaos unfold. "What should we do, Master Nel?"

"At our current strength there is no way we can prevent any of this fighting."

"Then what should we do?" Dondochakka cried, shaking behind the quartz trees that grew beside them.

"We leave, right, Master Nel?" Pesche asked, formally bowing towards his master.

Nel walked past Pesche as she looked on to the horizon. "Aizen is gone. The Espadas are no more. Therefore, you are by no means required to stay with me."

"We know, Master Nel. It is by our own will that we have stayed by your side for so long." Pesche replied, not even moving to face his master.

"We've been calling you our Master out of pure respect, Master." Dondochakka cried, prostrating himself before her.

"Well don't. As my last command as your Master, I denounce you as my Fraccion."

The two Arrancars' faces, if we could see them, turned white, but neither could hope to reply.

"And as your equal, I ask of you, will you follow me?"

And with that, the two immediately stood at attention. Well, Dondochakka, the hulk that he was, could only hunch forward, as his body was too large. "Yes, Master Nel!"

Nel smiled as she put out her hand in a gesture to stop them. "Friends don't call each other Master."

"They do if it is of their own free will, Master Nel." Pesche replied, with Dondochakka nodding his colossal head in agreement.

Nel smiled as she beckoned them to follow.

~Chad~

Yatsutora sat on his bed, his hand, palm up, was rested on his knee. He knew what his power was, but not where it came from. He focused his spiritual pressure into his right arm, forming his usual black, armor-plated weapon.

But with a second rush of energy, he took it to the next level, forming his shield, or, Right Arm of the Giant.

Then, with a simple relaxation of his muscles, all of his armor vanished. His attention was diverted to the ringing of his cell phone. Recently he and a couple of his friends from work have been meeting up, so he assumed that they were calling.

They weren't.

URAHARA came up on the Callar-ID screen of his cell-phone, so he shrugged and picked it up.

"Hello , good evening Mr. Sado."

"Good evening Mr. Urahara. How can I help you?"

"I was just calling to see how you were. Maybe ask if you wanted to go view the cherry blossoms bloom with Yoruichi and the group."

"Sorry, I've going with Orihime, Ichigo, and Uryuu." He hung up, just as he gave his reply, not caring to say good-bye.

But as soon as he did, his phone rang again, with the same URAHARA on his screen.

"What is it now, Mr. Urahara?"

"You never let me finish, I had another favor to ask of you."

"Hmm" He answered, nonchalant.

"A visitor from the Soul Society will be showing up in a week. And I was wondering if you could be so kind as to pick out a room for him in town. My place is far too crowded at the moment to accommodate any more travelers."

"I understand. Anything in particular?"

"Oh, nothing really. Just make sure that there is plenty of peace and quiet, and a nearby convenience store, around, 20 minutes from it."

"I'll look into it."

"Thank you very much Mr. Sado. Now then, I must bid you farewell, I'm a very busy man, as you know."

And with that, he hung up, hoping that Mr. Urahara would not call back. When he didn't, Yatsutora sighed with relief and dialed Orihime's number.

It only took the bubbly redhead one ring before she picked it up. Her signature barrettes were already attached to her head, all six petals on each.

She had been meaning to call Chad about Obon, which was coming up soon. She was wondering if she should invite Uryuu. She felt like it would be rude not to, but asking him felt embarrassing. She was hoping that if Chad would come along, she wouldn't feel as embarrassed.

"Orihime?" Chad asked, listening to her breathing, wondering why she wasn't talking to him' .

"Huh? Oh, yeah. What did you wanna talk about?" What was she doing, holding Chad up when he was calling her.

"I was wondering if you would ask Uryuu if he wanted to go watch the cherry blossoms with the rest of us. Maybe after, we could all go to Obon?"

"Yes!" Orihime screamed. Then, settling down, she asked, "Should we ask Urahara-san as well?"

"Nah. He's going with Yoruichi and the others. See yah?"

"Bye." And with that, both had hung up.

Authors Note:

OK. This was really just a Get things going type of chapter. You can expect more, in depth, quality work from me next time.


	2. Fresh Start

Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in any of its forms, but if I did, Rangikyu would stop prostituting herself and marry Gin (My reason Gin defected)**

**In the event that you are displeased with my level of skill, please, don't hesitate to send a Review. I will use the best of my skills to reply to each one, but in the event that things are getting repetitive, then I will make an area in my Authors note to comment on it.****Please note that this is my first official FanFiction, so please go easy on me.**

**I give thanks to my first friend on this site, Pehpig, who helped me get things ready.**

~Grimmjow~

Grimmjow walked into the blazing sky of the Soul Society. The sun wasn't real, just like the one Aizen had made in Las Noches, because vitamin D wasn't needed for Souls. The only purpose it made was to let the citizens see, only here, night also passed for Souls to sleep.

He felt a Shinigami's presence appear behind him. Instinctively, he whipped his body and moved to slash his zanpakuto through the unknown spirit.

"Calm down." A voice called behind him now. The soul must have shunpo-ed behind him before he could draw his sword. He then remembered that his zanpakuto had been confiscated.

"Don't worry, your usual senses will kick on soon enough, your body is just weak after the experimental surgery we gave you before you woke up." The man said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Furious, Grimmjow reached out and grabbed the man's collar, twisting it across his neck. "And pray tell, just WHAT did you do to me?"

The man simply scoffed as Grimmjow let go. He pulled out what looked like a weird cucumber with a red button on the end by his thumb. "Calm down punk." He pressed the button making Grimmjow feel like he was experiencing twenty ceros being fired in his skull followed by them bouncing around the confines of his brain.

When he finally got back up from the pain, the man had a cigarette in his mouth. "Tha...Tha..."

"That... was one of Captain Mayuri's more useful inventions. If the trial run works, trial run being you, then we may be able to rehabilitate Arrancars and transform them into powerful soldiers." He shoved the cucumber back into his pocket. "Now come along, we don't wanna keep Mayuri-San waiting."

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

Grimmjow kicked a piece of broken stone as they walked. He was feeling more helpless than he was back in that court room.

He looked over and stared furiously into the Shinigami's face. Those blue eyes should be emitting a peaceful aura, but rather, they shown as dull as lead.

They were almost grey. It was as if he was hollow inside, no spark.

His hair was blond also, and with their first greeting, Grimmjow was sure that he was a Nazi in his human life. Grimmjow was already dead by the time Nazi Germany started WWII, but he had watched plenty during his Hollow days.

"You're burning a hole in my head, or so they say." He said, which took Grimmjow aback.

"Hmph, what do you mean, 'They Say'?" Grimmjow scoffed back, trying both to read him more, and get him to show some emotion.

"Well, I don't know what to say personally, I learned what to say by listening to others."

"So, what, you say, 'so they say' after every quote that you hear?"

"Correct."

"Don't you have anything to say that's original?"

"No. Sorry."

The conversation got quiet after that. Grimmjow felt confused about how he felt towards this guy. Compared to his earlier rage, Grimmjow felt more sympathy towards the Shinigami.

"We're here." The Shinigami nonchalantly commented. Grimmjow stared for a bit at the building in front of them. Apart from the small, renovations that decorated the outside, the only thing different about this building was the Kanji above the big doors. Grimmjow couldn't read Kanji, or Hiragana for that matter, but he figured that it must have been some kind of address that helped Shinigami find their way.

"What's your name anyway? I can't just call you Shinigami."

"If you must know, my name is Unkei. Now then, follow me, please."

As they entered the building, Grimmjow realized that they were in a Research & Development sector. It reminded him of a time when he had to deliver the body of a particular Arrancar to Szayel. He remembered getting chewed out for scratching the finger as he carried it down Las Noches's halls.

"Welcome Arrancar! Please, come this way and let me analyze (experiment on) your body." Grimmjow shuddered at the subtext as he turned to see what was creepier than Szayel on Happy Hour in Las Noches.

He saw a man whose face was completely covered in make-up (He remembered that this guy was the one who had led his interrogation). His hands were covered in a corpse's blood, and he could swear that there was more blood on him than what was left inside the corpse.

"Please, lay down in the operation bed. I want to see how well my little baby is doing in its new environment."

Grimmjow hesitated, but when Mayuri pulled out the weird cucumber, he reluctantly walked over and got on the raised bed. As he relaxed down, locks instantly formed around his neck, wrists, and ankles.

"Hey!" Grimmjow screamed, struggling to break free from the shackles.

"Relax idiot, god, you're as bad as Uryuu was back in Hueco Mundo. The surgery will bring some sudden incidents of pain, so I installed these cuffs to help keep you from interfering with my work." Mayuri groaned, reaching over and grabbed a set of long tweezers and a scalpel off a tray held by a young woman.

The woman had a vacant expression that seemed to show that she was used to such debacles. She had a nice rack, but her dull face reduced her attractiveness. At least by Grimmjow's standards.

"Hello brother, how has your day been?" the woman asked, giving a short bow in Unkei's direction, being careful not to disrupt the balance of the tray holding operating utensils.

Unkei gave a short bow in return, "Peaceful, sister Nemu, it has been full of breeze shooting, or so they say."

Nemu gave a soft giggle held in with her free hand over her mouth. "I believe you meant to say that you've been shooting the breeze all day. You must learn to phrase your quotes more correctly. Also, call me either Sister, or Nemu-chan. 'Sister' is only given as a title when one is a female member of a Catholic Monastery."

"Yes, and seeing as this isn't a church and Unkei isn't my son, neither of you should call each other sister or brother." Mayuri slapped a dirty scalpel on the tray and grabbed a little flashlight as he used his tweezers to open the incision into Grimmjow's skull. "Hmm, no signs of any physical deterioration, hopefully your brutish Spirit Pressure won't injure this little guy in the future."

"Little guy?" Grimmjow screamed, fury filling him, "Your 'little' guy just gave me the worst case of migraines ever! And why aren't I under by now!"

"Local anesthesia. Basically it means any pain that should be received due to the operation has been dulled." He reached over and stabbed a scalpel into the back of Grimmjow's hand, resulting in another scream of pain. "But, everywhere else still receives the same amount of pain as it always did."

~Nel~

"I...want...to...live!"

Nel woke up to the same dream like always. She had been having the same dream for the past few nights now. Always ending with the same five words.

She was growing worried. Not because of the dream itself, but because of the voice that followed it with those same five words. It was Nnoitora, she was sure of it.

The only problem was that she wasn't sure if she should pay it any mind. Not only had he caused so much pain in her life, but Pesche and Dondochakka were still angry for what he had done to her.

But she wasn't. Strange huh?

There was something about how self-destructive he was. Maybe she simply felt obliged to be there for him because she didn't want his death on her conscience. Was that why she was having these dreams? Was she guilty that she couldn't save him?

But what about her accident involving his attempt at her life? She almost died after what he did. She almost never returned to who she was. How can you forgive someone for doing that? Hmm?

She remembered a piece of romantic literature that she read once, "True love means unconditional forgiveness." Did she love Nnoitora?

She shoved a her fist into the sand as she recoiled from the thought. How could you love someone who had tried to take your life, anyway?

But the more she thought of him appearing from the shadows of the night, sitting down by the campfire and embracing her in his arms, the more she liked it.

But it was impossible. Nnoitora would sooner slash at her neck then give her a hug.

She looked over and saw Pesche and Dondochakka lying slumped over each other. Could she have simply dreamed it? But the idea only brought her sadness.

Then, out of nowhere, she felt it. Spirit pressure. It was faint, but also powerful. And she knew whose it was. Nnoitora.

But it was impossible! She had seen him die. She remembered the rock in her heart that she had felt, just after he had fallen down dead.

She ran out after it, with hope that he would be there and tell her everything would be alright.

But he wasn't there. All she saw was the same sand that surrounded her campfire. But as she walked, she could feel Nnoitora's spirit pressure envelop her.

She nearly fainted under the pressure and with something catching her ankle, she dropped backwards.

She clutched her ankle, feeling a long gash right above her Achilles tendon. Something had slashed at her foot. She bent over and started feeling the ground until she felt a curved blade protruding from the ground.

Anxious, she began digging around it. The blade began bending as she pulled. And with each pull, she became more and more sure of what it was.

When she finally pulled the weapon out of the sand, her heart raced with excitement. Holding the weapon upright, it rose high above her head. Nnoitora's Crescent Moon-bladed lance.

She embraced the pole, remembering all the battles she'd had against it. The blood from previous battles had dried by now, leaving a crusty black substance on the edges.

Setting the end against the ground, she searched the area around where she found the blade, hoping to find his body, but no such luck. It must have already passed on by now. But why leave his zanpakuto? Was this his way of saying that he was done fighting? Was his sole reason for fighting a means to get killed?

Then she remembered what a zanpakuto symbolized: Conviction. A spirit's strength of will is transferred into the strength of the blade. Nnoitora had left his will behind and kept it here for her.

"Hehe, you even know how to use that hunk of metal, sweet tits?"

Nel's head whipped over only to get kicked square in the side, getting thrown straight into a stone wall that must have been the remains of a building.

She tried to look up at her attacker, but he had already caught up to her, grabbing her by the throat. "Hehe, guess you're just a stupid bimbo huh? Mind spreading those thighs before I eat you?"

Nel groaned with disgust as the Arrancar's long, lizard-like tongue started licking her cheek. Nnoitora never talked that way, and if he'd ever, he wouldn't be so vulgar either.

She adjusted the position of Nnoitora's zanpakuto and used her heel to shove it straight through his tongue.

It was easy, and after she sliced his disgusting tongue off, let go. But she didn't stop there. She let the weight of the blade drop back, letting it land in both hands. Then, with a straight, downward stroke, she brought it down on his skull.

She had intended to slash down his torso, but she wasn't used to the length of the weapon.

The Arrancar lay dead as a doornail. Even Nnoitora admitted that a sword to the head would kill him. She had to use all her strength just to pry it free from his skull.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

"Where'd you go Master Nel?" Dondochakka cried as she returned from the darkness. The sun that Aizen had made never showed itself outside of Las Noches, so pretty much every Arrancar around had good night vision, but when you're near a campfire, you can't help but get adjusted.

"Is that what I think it is?" Pesche asked, gesturing towards Nnoitora's zanpakuto.

"Please don't, Pesche. I'm not in the mood."

"Alright, I just hope you know what you're doing."

"You don't trust me?"

"Nah. You've done enough right by me."

"Good! Now pass me some of that water if you're done with it."

But, invisible to Nel's eyes, Pesche gave a worried look. He had known the she had had feelings for Nnoitora back before he hand nearly killed her. He hadjust hoped that her feelings had subsided after that.

"Where do you think we should go now, Master Nel?"

**Author's Note**: Yeah, Sorry it took so long, my mom had confiscated my iPod and my Computer, so I couldn't work on the series. But here it is, back for more.


	3. The Adventure Begins

Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in any of its forms, but if I did, Ichigo would have lost to Aizen. I mean seriously?**

**In the event that you are displeased with my level of skill, please, don't hesitate to send a Review. I will use the best of my skills to reply to each one, but in the event that things are getting repetitive, then I will make an area in my Authors note to comment on it. Please note that this is my first official FanFiction, so please go easy on me.**

**I give thanks to my first friend on this site, Pehpig, who helped me get things ready.**

~Ulquiorra~

Hell.

This is where the damned live. Where those who have sinned and need to be punished shall remain for all eternity until they have truly understood their wrongs.

For Ulquiorra's case, he was being punished for murdering the souls of countless Shinigami and souls during his days as an Arrancar.

Arrancar were considered fully in control of their actions. They weren't judged like Hollows were. Hollows were judged on their crimes made during their days as a human. Most Arrancars had forgotten their Human lives the minute they became an Adjuchas. It's kind of hard to remember one life out of the ninety-nine other lives that exist in their head as well.

Ulquiorra was led by a group of three demons. Their job was to punish him. One was cruel and sadistic. He called himself Ruin.

The second was calm and gave appropriate punishments to him. Ulquiorra liked him. The two were kindred spirits (though they already were spirits.

The third struck Ulquiorra as weird. He only showed up once every ten punishments and never gave him any punishments himself. The other two never spoke to him, and he never spoke to them.

The Punishment for the moment was cliché. He was told to dig a hole with his bare hands, but none of the dirt was allowed to touch the outside.

Basically they wanted him to eat dirt while digging through solid stone with his fingers.

He was surprised through, when he heard the third demon give him the order. He was taller than him, though that wasn't hard. Ulquiorra was a rather short person. He had scales covering his entire body, making him look like a human-shaped snake with a long, black pony-tail hanging out the back of his head.

When he finally got to the bottom though, he looked up to find demon number one laughing like crazy. Realizing what was so funny, Ulquiorra slapped his face. He was trapped down there. All abilities had been removed from Hollows in Hell so he couldn't Air-walk up, not that there WAS any air to walk on here.

He then found himself getting dirt thrown on his face. They continued to toss dirt all over him and it began to fill up the hole he had made.

He knew what they were doing. They were burying him alive, or dead, or whatever you called yourself down here.

He wasn't going to let that happen freely though. Ulquiorra shoved one of his hands into the stone, making a foothold, even though it made his hand get covered in blood.

He had made it halfway up the hole when he felt water touch him. It never rained in Hell though, so he knew they must have decided to flush him back down.

Looking around for the water, he braced himself against the wall of the hole to prepare for a wave of water. Of course, he didn't expect a pipe to eject out in front of him and blast water at high pressure.

The force of the water knocked him against the wall across from him until it dropped a bit, causing him to fall down and get a mouth full of mud.

Looking up, he noticed the pipe bend down and face him before firing another powerful blast of water straight into his face, shoving him back into the mud.

~Rukia~

He had never seen his Lieutenant this heartbroken. Not even when her hand had killed Kaien did she seem this heartbroken.

But she didn't cry; No she didn't. She worked hard, she spoke with respect, and she always acted in the way a Lieutenant should act. But deep down, he knew there was a void in her heart. And even her brother knew that.

Byakuya-san was even the first to suggest that she go back down to earth to catch up with the others, even if she couldn't meet with Ichigo directly.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

She knew why they had sent her down. And she admitted it, it felt good to be back on Earth. But she still wasn't ready to be wearing a Gigai. Even her brother had permitted her to meet Ichigo if she wore a Gigai, and her brother would normally do anything to keep her from being anything but business friendly with him.

But she wasn't ready. She had said goodbye and everything, but she wasn't ready to see him again OR leave him forever.

So instead, she went to visit Orihime. The two had been good friends for a long time before she said goodbye.

Climbing threw her window, Rukia had forgotten about her habit of breaking and entering into people's homes and wash shocked to see an arrow of Reiatsu fire at her only to hear Orihime call out "Tsubaki!", stopping the arrow and reverting it back into a black fairy.

Orihime ran over to her from the kitchen, she must have been cooking her dinner, "Rukia? What a pleasant surprise!" Her eyes and gestures were completely inviting. This was what had made Orihime her Best Friend, this open invite to enter her life.

"I was given permission to take a leave of absence for the weekend and so I thought I'd come over." While it was true that she had been given a leave of absence for the weekend, Orihime's house was not where she thought she'd come over.

"Well come on in! I'm making Strawberry Pot-roast with chocolate fondue!" It pleased her to see that her friend's bizarre eating habits had remained the same, even if they had remained disgusting.

Rukia declined, telling her that she had already eaten before she left, leaving Orihime a little disappointed but she cheered right up when she had three big ideas. The first was that she got to have all of the Pot-roast to herself. The second was that Pickles would make an excellent topping for this.

The third was that her friend was clearly hoping to see someone who she knew was stopping by, but Rukia didn't.

~Grimmjow~

Grimmjow was angry, like he always was. But this time, even he didn't know why he was angry. Was he angry with himself for being weak? Was he angry with that Mayuri scumbag for putting a brain-killer parasite in his head? Was he angry at Kurosaki for beating him and then putting in a good word for him? What about Woman?

"Something bothering you again?" that idiot Unkei appeared in the doorway to the balcony he was resting on.

"Yeah, your voice!" He snapped back before realizing that he wasn't even angry with this guy. That wouldn't change his attitude though. "So when are we going to Karakura Town?"

Unkei lifted up Pantera and tossed it to him. He had gotten strong enough that his reflexes had kicked in again. He grabbed it, pulling the blade out to inspect and say hello. Pantera was an extension of his body, and you don't treat your body poorly do you? Nah, only idiots do that.

"We leave…Right now." He said, grabbing Grimmjow by the back of his collar and pulling him along in the air. Unkei was moving as fast as a Lieutenant, not to say that Grimmjow couldn't move as fast, it just meant that his neck was being ripped off at the sheer velocity.

"Hey! Slow Down!"

"Can't. No Time. We'll be late for a very important date, or so they say."

"That's from a F***ing book! NO ONE TALKS LIKE THAT UNLESS THEY"RE BEING A TOTAL DOUCHE!"

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

After several minutes of arguing and running, Unkei finally conceded and let Grimmjow run along side him. The two would fight, or more specifically, Grimmjow would fight and Unkei would respond more nonchalant than Ulquiorra

It was Grimmjow's first time when they passed through the Seikaimon. It was creepy, what with the uncertainty of getting run-over by this thing called the Janitor. At least when you passed through the Gargantua you either fell into oblivion and died or you made a pathway and survived.

When they got out, Grimmjow was surprised to see the entire town to be completely intact. It was like Aizen had never been there.

"Hey!" He reached over and pulled the boring travel guide over by gripping his shoulder. "I thought Aizen had made it to Karakura. Why's everything so peachy?"

Unkei made a simple twist with his arm and removed Grimmjow's grip from his shirt. "Because before Aizen got here, Soul Society switched Karakura Town with a replica and fought while in the replica instead of Karakura Town."

The answer was blunt, but honest, and Grimmjow didn't know how to react. He heard a scream and a loud explosion and turned his head with a smile: Hollow Attack!

Unkei made a small effort to explain some things to Grimmjow, but before he could, he was already off to defeat the Hollow.

Down in front of the poor ghost, Grimmjow stood where he never thought he'd stand: Protecting the child.

The Hollow was equally confused, as Grimmjow's notoriety was, well, notorious, and everyone with a mask new that Grimmjow was one of the most vicious killers in Hueco Mundo.

"Yeah, Yeah. Get used to it, won't yeah?" He looked over at the little boy, only to find him terrified of him and on the ground almost as if he was killed.

Before he could reach over to touch him though, Unkei showed up to stop him. "Downsize your Reiatsu, idiot. Your killing him before you can even saves him."

Realizing what he was doing, Grimmjow dropped his Reiatsu down to the lowest he could make it. Before long the boy would recover and be well off again being chased by evil Hollows.

Looking over at the beast, Grimmjow scoffed at it. One look clearly told him that this one was one of those that relied on some kind of unique ability of theirs to kill.

"Listen here you douche-bag. I'm going to be nice for you. I'll only use my left leg and neither of my hands. No ceros, no ballas, no special power. Let's see if that's enough of a handicap for you."

With that, the Hollow took the invitation, sure that he could win with Grimmjow's reiatsu's level so low.

The Hollow had ten legs and a centipede-like body with an ant-shaped head. His tongue shot out like a javelin aimed for his heart. At first, Grimmjow's instincts told him to dodge it, seeing as his speed was still superior, even with his power level suppressed so low, but then he remember he was protecting the kid and if he jumped out of the way, the tongue lance would stab him or Unkei.

The tongue lance struck him square in the chest. Luckily his hierro was also high enough to block it. Grimmjow stomped his free foot down on the tongue, stopping it from going anywhere while he thought.

Only that didn't stop the Hollow from attacking. He heard some gas escape and the centipede's head fired at him, pinning Grimmjow's free-leg between them.

The Hollow gave off a blood-curdling scream of joy as it realized that it might be winning. That is, until he saw Grimmjow's look of Bloodlust.

Dropping his leg, he shoved his knee up, smashing it into the chin(?) of the Hollow. He then jumped up using only one leg to get above it and repeated to use a Hammer Kick to smash the Hollow back down, creating a crater in the cement.

After repeated Hammer kicks he heard the Hollow beg for mercy. Confused, he bends over at the Hollow's ear(?). "You're a Hollow and you're asking for Mercy? Pathetic."

Pulling out his Zanpaku-to, he proceeded to stab it into the Hollow's head. What surprised Grimmjow was that the reaction was far different than when he would stab Hollows before. "HEY! Unkei! What'd you guys do to Pantera?"

"Nothing much. We just made it capable of purifying souls. When an Arrancar stabs a Hollow, their soul gets absorbed by the sword and is fed to the Arrancar. We made it possible for your Zanpaku-to to work like a normal Soul Reaper's Zanpaku-to."

"F***ing Assholes!" Grimmjow growled, wiping the blood from his blade and re-sheathing it back into his sheath. Looking up, he noticed two, very familiar girls who looked too familiar to be anyone else and jumped up to visit them.

~Orihime~

Seeing Grimmjow in town was one thing, but seeing him PROTECT a Plus instead of killing it was something else entirely. She remembered vouching for Grimmjow's parole, but part of her never believed that he would take it.

After an unnecessarily difficult battle, she found that she and Rukia were getting a little too engrossed in the battle and that Grimmjow had spotted them and was coming straight for them.

"C'mon" Rukia said, trying to pull her away, despite the futility of escaping Grimmjow. Instead though, Orihime made a cheerful smile and opened her window wider and let Grimmjow in.

Orihime knew all about Grimmjow's court hearing, so she knew that if he would be coming over, it wouldn't be too dangerous. It would actually be more dangerous to try preventing him from coming over.

"Hello Woman. Thanks for speaking up for me during my hearing."

"No problem, Grimmjow-kun." She said, not feeling any real-killing intent. Instead, all she felt was a playful killing intent meant to scare her out of fun.

**Author's Note**: Yeah, Sorry it took so long, my mom had confiscated my iPod and my Computer, and so I couldn't work on the series. But here it is, back for more. Plus I kind of got bored and lost interest.


	4. Lucifer, Damsels, and New Tides turning

Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in any of its forms, but if I did, I doubt I could have made it any better, but I would have seriously edited that Substitute Shinigami arc. I mean seriously? It was basically a copy of Yu Yu Hakusho's Sensui arc. **

**In the event that you are displeased with my level of skill, please, don't hesitate to send a Review. I will use the best of my skills to reply to each one, but in the event that things are getting repetitive, then I will make an area in my Authors note to comment on it. Please note that this is my first official FanFiction, so please go easy on me.**

**I give thanks to my first friend on this site, Pehpig, who helped me get things ready.**

~Nel~

The three of them had crossed over quite a bit of distance since we last saw them. Dondochakka had regurgitated Bawabawa to assist them on their journey, as Nel had predicted that they would be traveling a long distance.

"Do you have any plans made yet, Master Nel?" Pesche asked, sitting next to her on Bawabawa's back. Dondochakka had placed himself on Bawabawa's head and was having some kind of discussion.

Out of the two of them, Pesche was Nel's confidant. He was smarter and more mature than Dondochakka, though he had that creepy side to him, which made him more trusting to pass her worries towards.

While it wasn't that Nel didn't trust Dondochakka, she just couldn't see him understanding a lot of the complex strategies that the two of them often came up with.

"I was thinking we try and find any of the remaining Espada's; Particularly my replacement, Harribel. From what I heard, she's quite level-headed and might help us understand what we should be planning on doing."

While it wasn't an actual lie, Nel had already thought of what they should do. But whether they could do it was the problem. She was still only a fraction of her true self, and she wasn't getting any kind of power radiating from Nnoitora's lance.

So to access her power, she needed to be pushed while in battle. She could feel a sliver return when that Hollow from before attacked her, but it was like a breath of oxygen, it lasted for less than a second.

To access her power, she'd need to push herself to even farther than she did with Nnoitora before.

"Master Nel?" Pesche called for her. It had seemed that she had dozed off in concentration. "If you want, we could spar a little. It isn't like we're pressed for time or anything."

She smiled softly at his offer. "No Pesche, I'm afraid you wouldn't do much he-"

She was cut off when Pesche fired a bala at her, throwing her off Bawabawa and shocking Dondochakka. He chased after her and drew his sword.

She didn't have enough time to draw her own, so she blocked with Nnoitora's lance. "What are you doing Pesche." She grunted, trying to push herself out from his clash.

She was surprised by how strong he was. His tiny frame had been hiding some powerful muscles. She had forgotten why she had chosen these two to be her Fracion. He wasn't nearly as strong as Dondochakka, but he still was an Arrancar.

Shoving her knee into his gut, she pushed him of to the side and gathered her thoughts. "I asked you, what are you doing Pesche."

"What are you doing, Master Nel." He said, taking a stance with his zanpaku-to, ready to attack. "Don't be so full of pride, Master Nel. As you are now, you are no stronger than me, so don't give me that, it won't help speech."

Realizing he was right, she began to apologize for her Arrogance, when he Sonido-ed in, his blade sealed in the handle. He released the blade, causing it to extend out and slash into her gut.

She saw that fighting him was the only way to prove her apology, she set the lance, blade first into the ground and drew her Zanpaku-to. Pesche was using all of the tricks she had taught him, and he had even added some moves that she had never seen before. He must have learned that rapid-thrust move from watching Commander Gin.

Drawing her stance, she leaped towards him and clashed swords. She used the force behind his blow to give her a platform, using her blade to lift herself into the air and throw a powerful roundhouse kick at his head.

~Chad~

Chad was looking around for apartments when he felt the Hollow and Arrancar spiritual pressures. They were strange, because they seemed like they were fighting. Maybe a turf war, but it was too strange and neither was supposed to be allowed to roam free in Karakura Town.

Running over, he spotted the Arrancar and remembered feeling his spiritual energy back in Hueco Mundo. Activating his Left Arm of the Giant, Chad walked over to address the Arrancar and find out what he was doing here.

Unlike Ichigo or Ishida, he had a small kinship towards Hollows due to his power. And while it was true that Ichigo had that bizarre power to become a Hollow, he still seemed to be opposed to the idea of accepting his Hollow side.

It wasn't like Chad was into eating souls or anything, he didn't even allow Hollows and Arrancars to do this. But he felt it was fair to allow them a chance to leave Karakura Town and return to Hueco Mundo. Hollows were animal-like, so it took some convincing, but he was proud that he was the one with the smallest amount of destruction on his record among the gang.

Even Orihime caused some damage in her fights, though her opponent caused most, but she would quickly cover it up by rejecting the damage and returning everything to normal.

But before he could talk to him, he overheard one of the most confusing conversations ever. Mostly, it was confusing because the two people talking were an Arrancar and a Shinigami. He heard something about the Arrancar's sword being modified. He began wondering if this was another defector like Aizen.

But before he could talk AGAIN, the Arrancar flew off towards Orihime's house. He started to Sonido after him, but the Shinigami grabbed his shoulder (how he got behind him was beyond him) and shook his head.

"Don't worry, he's on our side." He said with a fake smile and a monotonous voice.

~Orihime~

A human, an Arrancar, and a Shinigami sitting in the same room, drinking tea: No one could ever imagine anything like that.

Grimmjow was sitting savagely, his right leg not even on the ground, rather his knee was pointed up, suspending his arm while his held his tea cup.

"So how's Ichigo, woman?" He followed with a "That Bastard", under his breath as he mentioned Ichigo's name, causing Rukia to flinch, but Orihime just smiled and offered to pour him some more tea.

"Ichigo-kun isn't feeling well at the moment. His battle with Aizen had left him more damaged than any of us." She told him. She saw that the fight had burned away some of his bloodlust and that he was calmed down for a bit.

Rukia on the other hand, seemed even more anxious as she told Grimmjow. She still held a grudge towards him for when he tried to kill her in his invasion.

She had tried to make things calming, but as she tried to pour Grimmjow another cup of tea, he started to spasm and grasped his head. She quickly reacted, summoning her fairies, but he put his hand on her arm.

Smiling to her, he said his thanks, which was weird as it was, and left, leaving a very puzzled look on both the young girl's faces.

~Grimmjow~

"What the F*CK is wrong with you!" Grimmjow screamed, his voice trailing along for miles, but because he was still out of his Gigai, he wasn't heard by anyone except for the spiritually away. Which was estimated to be about 20% of Karakura Town.

Unkei had activated the parasite in his head during his talk with Orihime and Rukia, which was the result of his spasm. It was his third spasm to date and he still wasn't getting used to them.

"We found you a place to stay for the night. Your host is busy tonight, so we had to find you someplace accommodating for the night." Unkei said, not really caring that his actions gave Grimmjow both grimace and annoyance.

"And why did you have to Brain-Blast me?"

"I wanted to get your attention." He said, tucking the cucumber trigger in the inside of his Shinigami kimono.

"Oh! And a simple 20 meters of walking distance was too much of a hassle for you?" He said, his temper getting higher.

"Why, yes, yes indeed." He said, but before Grimmjow could attempt to strangle him, Chad shoved his Armored Left arm between the two of them.

"You look familiar. Did I try to kill you before?" Grimmjow said, turning his attention to the man between them.

"Actually, yeah you did. But Ichigo stopped you." Chad said. He didn't have any malice in his voice, which shook Grimmjow's opinion of him.

Following Chad down the street, Grimmjow had made it perfectly clear that he didn't need a house. Unfortunately, they needed someplace that Unkei could keep an eye on him, and it would be too difficult to keep and eye on him if he was outside.

When they got to the place, Grimmjow figured that they were both getting their wishes. The apartment Chad had found for him was right next to a construction site.

"Unkei, you rent the apartment, I'll sleep under the stars out here." He said, jumping up towards the top of the halfway constructed building.

"Don't worry," Chad said, patting his hand on Unkei's back. He was surprised to feel quite a few muscles behind it, seeing as the man looked like he never fought a day in his life.

"Why, is there a problem?" Unkei said, tilting his head to Chad in confusion.

"You'll see," Chad said, walking off to go to sleep in his own apartment.

~Ulquiorra~

Ulquiorra had found himself buried fifty feet underground, with nothing but his fingernails to dig through the ground.

He had needed to use all of his strength, which was severely limited here in Hell, just to push the dirt around him away so that he could move a little.

The air here was so thin with Spiritual Energy that it was like it barely existed, making it impossible to use any of his true strength. But amongst the strenuous amounts of effort he was exhibiting, Ulquiorra could feel a strange yet power reiatsu.

This was nothing like Aizen's though. Aizen's was distant and elusive. He could barely make out it on occasion with his Pequisa. This energy was loud and almost seemed angry and sad at the same time. It wasn't that hard for that to happen though, as much of our hatred is spurred from our sadness.

Feeling like he was getting nowhere with the direction he was going, Ulquiorra began exerting enough spiritual energy into his hands to strengthen his fingernails, allowing them to scratch through the Brimstone.

Ulquiorra felt a rush of annoyance at this. With just one scratch, he broke open a very thin wall leading to the outside, or, at least out of the walls. Looking through the room he had entered, he found it to be frozen solid. At the center of the room lay the source of this power energy. Now that he was close enough, Ulquiorra could feel the energy.

There was more energy than there was in the entire Karakura Town. You could make 10 Okens and still have more than enough energy to destroy all of Soul Society with this power.

But strangely, the being possessing such power was bound, showing just how much more powerful this world was. The being stood 25 feet tall and had a draconian head with ram horns. His body was black and scaly with a long tail swooping down to the floor.

Six wings lay on his back, each a different color and of a different species. One was a dragonfly wing, another, a bat. One lay flat and was silky smooth like that of a penguin, while the one just above it was that of a swan. To the opposite side of the Swan wing stretched a long black one, probably that of a crow or raven. Below the raven wing reached a thin, but long human arm with a thick, leather cape under it. It was the only arm on its entire body.

_Ulquiorra. I see that like many before you, you are at a loss for words as to what I am. I am the opposer. The Judge. The loved one. I am… _

"Lucifer." Ulquiorra said, his voice scratched just saying it.

_The first Hollow. The first being to oppose natural order and to challenge the ideals of the Soul King. I was his most faithful. His devoted first son. But then I saw the humans and how he loved them more than I. I hated humans for that, but more than anything, I hated my own father for choosing to love the creatures that didn't even believe he existed over his most loving servant._

"So you led a group of eager minded followers and attempted to overthrow his reign." Ulquiorra had heard the same story during his human years. Only the Soul King had a much different, but similar name.

_I wanted freedom, and the chance to give others that same freedom. You see, He does not offer you freedom. He is conniving and is planning. He is always planning. And you cannot stop His plans._

"Now why is such a magnificent revolutionary leader trapped in a frozen pillar?" Ulquiorra said, he sat down and looked over at the towering figure. "Last time I heard you had established Hell as your own personal kingdom and prison for the damned."

_I was betrayed by my own kin. My own bretheran who had fought by my side had chosen to betray me am overthrow all of Hell. Now the Demons are getting fed up with waiting and are conniving to accelerate the Apocalypse._

"Hey! What are you doing here?" A guard said, rushing into the room. He found himself instantly vaporized and a large tunnel opened up to the sky.

_Run. I can't escape, but I can make enough room for you to escape. Warn Grimmjow Jeagerjaque. You must stop him before he unleashes Destruction upon the world._

~Grimmjow~

Looking up at the clear sky, Grimmjow began thinking about the past again. He remembered his fallen comrades that died because of his impulses. He remembered what Kurosaki had told him during their fight.

"What was it? 'What's the point of Eating everyone I hate until I'm left alone? Heh, fuck that."

Grimmjow felt a slow trickle of water hit him in the face. He perked up, wiping the water off of himself. He had been resting on a gurdur hanging out of the construction site. Turns out that staring out at the open sky is only good of you have a warm roof over your head.

Grimmjow dashed back into Uken's room, just avoiding the real downpour. He began licking the water off of his arms and hands.

"You really are a kitty cat, aren't you?" Uken said, looking over at him from the bed. He was reading a book titled The Never Ending Story.

"Fuck you."

Then Grimmjow spent the next few hours screaming in pain.

~Nel~

Nel was getting used to dodging Pesche's attacks. He was skilled, but she had been the one who had trained him. He swung at her left, she paried it with her right, carrying it over hear head. She dropped low and swept her leg, he jumped and spat some of his Infinite Slick onto the ground, cause herself to trip.

He landed on top of her, his sword stabbed into the sand right next to her ear.

"Pesche! What are you doing!" Dondochakka said, he had finally caught up with them and swung his giant mace at his insect mask.

Pesche managed to roll away, trying to explain himself. Dondochakka managed to calm down long enough to listen to Pesche, but when they returned to look over at Nel, she was gone. All that stood there was Pesche's sword stuck into the ground.

"Nel!" They screamed.

~Orihime~

"Shall I pour you some tea Rukia?" Orihime already had the tea kettle in her hands.

"No thanks, Orihime. Could you tell me what that was all about with Grimmjow?"

Orihime looked at her dear friend and chuckled a little. She felt the water and realized that it had gotten cold already. She got up to turn on the stove top to heat it back up.

"Orihime?"

"Oh, yes, silly me! Grimmjow's the new Substitute Shinigami of Karakura Town." She said, already putting the kettle onto the stove top.

"What?" Rukia was staring at her with disbelief. Orihime had been so sure that Captain Ukitake would have told her, but she figured he must have decided to wait.

"Yes. His body was discovered among the rubbles of Hueco Mundo. Since he hadn't been purified nor sent to Hell, he had to have been still alive, so they took him to Soul Society for War Trials.

"Captain Ukitake and Captain Hitsuguya asked us if we believed Grimmjow deserved a second chance. Ichigo said yes, so I followed behind him. I'm so glad he's fitting in nicely. Isn't that good for him, Rukia? Rukia?"

Rukia was gone, there wasn't even a trace of where her spiritual energy could have gone. The kettle rolled gently after she had dropped it in surprise.

Orhime rushed to the from door to check and see if she had left. Nothing. It was almost as if she had never even come over. She rushed to the bathroom, still in disbelief, not even noticing the closet door slowly open. A single, green vine seemed to be growing out of the endless darkness existing inside.

"Rukia?" She screamed, throwing the bath tube screen open. There was nothing there but a leaking faucet. She bent down to turn it off.

The vine slowly crept closer and closer. Orihime was too shaken up to notice it as she turned her head. The vine looped around her right ankle and pulled her out of her sitting position. She screamed, stopping the vine by putting her left foot against the wall.

Slowly another vine entered the room and grabbed her right hand while she tried to pry the first vine off. The second vine pulled even harder than the first, swinging her torso over and banging her temple against the door to the bathroom. She went out almost instantly, unable to resist the vines as the slowly grew in abundance and began wrapping around every part of her body.

The last thing heard from her room before she was dragged into the closet was a little groan, crying out for Ichigo.

~Kisuke~

"Did you feel that?" Yoruichi said between her groans and moans.

"Oh, yeah." Kisuke said, he was incredibly thankful Chad had found a place for Grimmjow for the night.

"Not that, stupid. _That_."

"Oh, yeah, _that_. Looks like it's coming early."

**Author's Note**:

Hi everyone. Sorry it took me so long. I was trying to figure out what my first plot was going to be. Then I saw this awesome picture that I probably can't show without risking getting kicked off the site. Basically, let's just say it involved Tentacles and leave it at that.

Next chapter:

Ulquiorra crashed into Orihime's room to find Ichigo and Chad already there.

"What are you doing here!" Ichigo yelled, instinctively rushing up at Ulquiorra and grabbing him by the collar. He shoved him firmly against the wall, glaring strongly into his eyes. Then they lit up in surprise and realization. "Wait, why can I see you?"

"Where's Orihime?" Ulquiorra said, his temper was rising and he felt like he was going to murder someone.

"She's not here." Chad said, trying to pull Ichigo off of him.

"And Grimmjow?"

"He went looking for her."


	5. The Comings and Goings

Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in any of its forms, but if I did, I doubt I could have made it any better, but I would have tried to go deeper into what those Fullbringers could do? **

**In the event that you are displeased with my level of skill, please, don't hesitate to send a Review. I will use the best of my skills to reply to each one, but in the event that things are getting repetitive, then I will make an area in my Authors note to comment on it. Please note that this is my first official FanFiction, so please go easy on me.**

**I give thanks to my first friend on this site, Pehpig, who helped me get things ready.**

Just so that you are aware, I have decided to modify this story's rating to M due to some sexual themes presented in this, even though it is all soft-core.

~Ulquiorra~

As Ulquiorra climbed the ascending pit, he couldn't even see an exit, just a single star up above. He looked down to check his progress and he couldn't even see anyone following him. It was pitch black in both directions.

Ulquiorra could feel something strange happening to him as he climbed, but every time he stopped to inspect the change, it seemed to stop and fade from his notice. He tested it by walking down and up and confirmed that while nothing happened to him at all while he climbed back down, going up seemed to leave a strange feeling swelling in his chest and stomach.

As he climbed, he began to experience flashbacks over and over again. He saw himself climbing, and then he watched himself fighting Kurosaki.

He looked farther back and saw himself as a Hollow. He had been made different than most Hollows. He wasn't hungry or even desired to eat other souls: it was every other Hollow that wanted to eat him. It had something to do with his spiritual energy, but something about his unlimited negativism and his emotion-less attitude seemed to infect his Reiatsu turning it into a kind of homing signal for other hollows.

He spent his days eating every single thing that tried to eat him. It was just like his human days, only even more timeless. But it wasn't like he had much time to compare the two. Imagine, dying of a heart disease in the 1600's. It was almost like getting the Grim Reaper to mark you for death.

Then Ulquiorra's thoughts drifted towards the Woman. He red hair and ample bosom stirred his thoughts. He felt no warmth reach him though. No, just…something else. Something not quite cold, but not quite warm.

He felt raindrops hit his face and run down his cheeks, which drew his attention back to his destination. He didn't even know where he was going, but he did now.

As he pulled himself out of the hole, he felt his body almost explode dew to the intense amounts of Reiatsu entering himself. He wasn't even in Hueco Mundo or the Soul Society, which was where Reiatsu was most abundant.

No, he was in a park. A park in a town. And that town was called Karakura Town.

He felt the rain wash over him and soak his black hair. Its thick body hung over both of his eyes and the running water made it look like he was crying. But crying tears of what? And for what reason.

~Ichigo~

Ichigo wander the streets and found himself outside Orihime's apartment complex. He had been coming by a lot recently, but he had always found himself an excuse for coming over. He was sure that she had figured out b now thought that he just needed the company.

He walked up the stairs and found himself significantly weaker than he used to be. Just going up these three flights of stairs left his legs a little wobbly. He had found himself so commonplace in his Shinigami form that he had neglected to exercise his body. Kon had taken good care of his body in terms of getting decent amounts of sleep and eating proper meals, but it wasn't like he needed to fight on a twenty-four hour basis.

Ichigo's first realization on how out of shape he was, was when he found out that he could feel his rib-bones. He used to do 300 curl-ups before he became a Shinigami, but now he had the stomach of a supermodel.

As he opened the door, he was shocked to see Chad already over there, and it looked like he had been talking to someone who he couldn't see. Realizing that someone from the Soul Society was here, Ichigo's heart thumped as he thought of Rukia. He had found her absence to be the most unbearable out of all the major changes,

Chad must have seen him when he passed by the window, cause he opened the door and let him in.

Ichigo was hesitant at first, but then he noticed Kisuke and Yoruichi in their Gigai and relaxed a little.

Kisuke was the first the break the ice, taking off his hat to show just how serious he was. "Ichigo, have you seen Rukia within the past 24 hours?"

Ichigo's heart thumped, but in a different way as he heard Kisuke sounding like a FBI agent from TV. "Huh? She was here?" Which was all he could say in response to _that_.

"Yeah, and now both she and Orihime are missing. We can't find any traces of their Reiatsu to begin with. It's like they never existed in the first place." Chad followed suite, his typical calm demeanor was cracking a little out of fear.

"Does Uryuu know? He's way better at sensing Spiritual Energy than I ever was." Ichigo asked, just throwing out answers as they came to his mind.

Chad looked at him strangely at first, but answered politely anyway. "Did you forget? He and his dad are in Germany revisiting the roots of their Quincy Powers. We can't get any connection from where he is."

Ichigo felt like an idiot. They had even done a send-off party and everything.

~Chad~

Chad looked worriedly at his best friend. They had been through every life and death situation you could name and Ichigo still kept his feelings bottled up.

He looked over at the kitchen and saw Grimmjow, outside of his Gigai, going through the evidence. He had been in some kind of flux between extreme aggression and extreme serenity.

He had been staring at that Teapot for the past hour and a half and hadn't said a word so far, which was probably a good thing at the moment.

Uken had been spending his time inspecting the bathroom and closet. He had explained that these places are were people would notice things the less and that if the enemy had come from these spots that no one would notice right away if they were talking or something.

Kisuke and Yoruichi had been the last to show up before Ichigo. Yoruichi left immediately to inform Soul Society of her findings while Kisuke set of a parameter check and tried running a Reiatsu scan to cover the events that had unfolded over the night. He found nothing unusual until their energy just went up and vanished. At least we no WHEN they vanished. Sometime around 11:30PM.

~Grimmjow~

I wasn't getting anywhere from where I was standing. I needed a fresh perspective. How could spiritual go without getting detected?

Then the answer hit him: The Negacion!

"Kisuke!" He shouted, still not aware of Ichigo's presence. "Is it possible that a Negacion had been used without our knowing?"

"Well, it is possi-"

"Hey! What's he doing here?" Grimmjow pointed accusingly at Ichigo. He proceeded to walk up to Ichigo, but when he realized that he couldn't see him, he got a mischievous grin on his face. He began with simple obscene gestures but then started doing a little dance around Ichigo before he felt the sudden pain in his head!

"YOW!" He creamed, turning around to face Uken, only to see Kisuke holding the remote instead.

He cleared his throat to get his focus before continuing. "As I was saying. There is a small possibility that a Hollow or Arrancar had opened up a Negacion. Around here, but not only would they need to have been fast enough to avoid leaving any traces of their Reiatsu, they also will need to have some way of subduing Rukia and Orihime without either of them using any of their powers."

"So, should I go to Hueco Mundo to check it out?"

Kisuke sighed, putting his hat back on as a sign of giving up. "I guess, but make sure that you don't go and start a War like Ichigo did. This is reconascience work, not blitz attack work."

But before he could finish, Grimmjow was long gone. Kisuke didn't even have time to us the switch to get him attention.

~Chad~

Chad guessed that being the only human on bored, it was his job to deal with Ichigo. Ichigo was a wreck, both physically and mentally. He was even flunking some of his classes, and Tatsuki had even given him her notes from when he was gone.

He led Ichigo out of the apartment, hoping the change in scenery would do him some good. It didn't. Every spot Chad took him to seemed to have some connection to Rukia or Orihime.

The two of them had walked an entire circle around their neighborhood before Chad reaized just how out of shape Ichigo was. He was panting and dropping to one knee on several locations, but he refused to to have Chad stop for his sake.

Chad then noticed an Eel shop and pulls Ichigo in to eat and take his mind off of things.

Sadly, Chad was mistaken by the name of the shop and he was sitting down with Ichigo and a rather curvaceous older woman. She was wearing goggles on top of a hat that made her look like an ex-delinquent.

"So, your friend here is going through some physical rehab and doesn't know how to take it slow?" She asked, summarizing the simplified version of their events.

"That is correct, Miss…?" But he was cut off with the woman smacking Ichigo right in the face.

"You idiot! Don't you realize that rehab is a very important part of recovery? You need to avoid pushing yourself and take it easy. You wanna die?" Her words were true, but her violence seemed a bit over the top.

"If I don't push myself, how will I find Ruki and Orihime?" His own remark made him stop, showing that he at least still had some common sense not to reveal their reality to a bystander.

The room got quiet for a second as the woman got up (revealing a very nice piece of ass to them) and got the two of them some bowls of Ramen.

"Eat, it's good for your soul."

"I thought that was chicken nood-OOOWW!" He screamed as she shoved his face in the still boiling water and noodles.

"ENOUGH! Your friends are missing and you feel helpless. But I'm sure you still got other friends right? Lean on them!"

And do what? Forget my friends were here? That's stupid!"

"No, YOU"RE stupid. What you need to do is learn to trust and rely on your friends. Let your friends handle some of the work and let yourself rest and recover. You'll be no help if you don't and thn what happens when your friends really start to need you? Hmm?"

Her words were strong and right. And Ichigo knew that.

After they finished our Ramen, she got up and grabbed a pair of aprons from the closet and threw them in front of us? They looked at her in confusion.

"Unless I'm wrong, you two probably don't have any money to pay me. I run a problem-solving shop. Come to me with a problem and I shall solve it. But it looks like I got me another pair of empty pockets, so you two are going to work your butts off to pay me back. And you will." She cracked her knuckles and had an evil glint in her eyes.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~

The two of them walked back to Orihime's place with smiles on their faces and bruises and dirt on their faces.

When Chad opened the door, he found Kisuke sitting on the couch with his face looking more serious than either of them had ever seen him look. He looked up at them and he opened his mouth, but closed it again, still in thought, before talking to them.

"Yoruichi is missing. She never checked in with Ukitaka. Plus, Rangikyu-chan, Onohara-san, and Nemu-chan are missing from each of their respective divisions and haven't been discovered yet. Each of their rooms had had their Reiatsu completely removed, just like this room."

He didn't even carry a false smile. _He truly had lost some of his hop_e, Chad realized. _He must feel that if someone as strong as Yoruichi could get taken, then we have no hope left. _

~Ulquiorra~

Ulquiorra found himself walking the streets of Karakura Town devoid of all his spiritual power, except for his Pequisa. His ability to sense, observe, and analyze Reiatsu was still in top condition, even if he couldn't use Sonido or a Cero.

He felt his instincts draw him to Orihime's house without a second thought. He could feel a small sensation of her energies, like she had left and didn't want anyone to know. But why?

He opened the door to see Ichigo and a large, muscular teen standing just before him. They had disbelief on their faces, but they weren't directed at him.

He cleared his throat and immediately found himself being thrown inside by Ichigo, he had rage in his eyes. And that rage made Ulquiorra put the pieces together. Orihime hadn't left or ran away, she had been taken. He felt the same rage that Ichigo was feeling, only Ulquiorra's was ten-times as worse, as he had spent the past 300 hundred years suppressing all of his emotions.

"Where is she?" They both asked each other, their voices equally as cold and angry, which shocked them both, easing their rages a little.

"Wait, why can I see you?"

"Where is Orihime?" Ulquiorra asked, ignoring Ichigo, asking the muscular teen instead. He seemed calm enough.

"She's missing."

"And Grimmjow?"

"He went to Hueco Mundo to look for her."

"I see."

And with that, Ulquiorra, walked back out and found himself equally depressed that he couldn't go after Grimmjow.

~x~x~x~x~

Ulquiorra found himself in a park and looked back, seeing a man wearing a strange kind of hat on his head, carrying a very serious look on his face. Ulquiorra remember that this was the man who had saved Ichigo from Yammy's and his first attack on Karakura town.

"If I help you get your powers back, could you find Yoruichi?"

~Ichigo~

Ichigo couldn't realize what had happened. He was here. And he could see him. Did tha mean his powers were finally returning? He didn't even realize that Chad had been calling his name over again.

"Ichigo!"

"I saw him Chad. I thought I killed him when my Hollow went loose, but I guess that…"

"ICHIGO!" He yelled. He must have been yelling for quite a bit. "He was alive.

"I know, right?"

"No, Ichigo. He was _alive_." He said, and with that, Ichigo realized just what Chad was saying.

**Author's Note**:

Hi everyone. I really didn't enjoy righting this chapter. Filler isn't really my thing. But that should give you a little more insight into what is happening now. I particularly like Writing as Ulquiorra.


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